The Wizard's Army

[42zombies]

The city had moved.

Those four words were the only words needed to describe what had happened. New Babylon, the Wizard's utopia, now floated above the Caves. It was the only source of light in the dying twilight. It was perfectly immobile; it didn't bob in the air, like one would expect it to. It was a statue on an invisible pedestal.

Shapeless floated down to the mouth of the deepest cave. He adjusted his had-- he had selected a Trilby for the occasion-- and pulled a small rock from his coat pocket. It was triangular and smooth, and with a hole worn through it by natural forces.

Carefully, Shapeless tossed the stone into the cave mouth. Just as expected, it disappeared before it entered the cave. Ripples went through the air, as if some invisible curtain had been struck.

"The Nexus Maw..." Shapeless muttered under his breath, "A cave thats entrance connects to billions of dimensions across the Multiverse..."

Shapeless... they're coming. I want you to make sure you give them a decent greeting.

The Wizard's voice in Shapeless'... well, what was left of his mind; it was getting annoying. Shapeless considered betraying his old friend, but then thought better of it. Besides.

They were coming.

[nintendonut1]

"That city MOVED!?!? How does an entire city just up and move?!?"

"DUH, Eddy! Because floating cities can DO that!"

"No one asked YOU, Lumpy!"

As his two best friends, one flying next to him and the other dashing across the stonework below him, Eddward once again led their resistance towards New Babylon's new location. What was awaiting them there... he did not know. But that was no reason to be afraid. Not in the slightest.

[ryocker]

Undoubtebly, none of the Resistance (except for the two in the sky) noticed another portal opening up. a small, round little orb with feet and stubby hands fell out of it, two ridiculously large mint leaves on her head. She had a light green stripe across the back of her light blue body, but that didn't matter.

what DID matter was that the portal that opened up was right in front of their path, and, more importanly, right above Eddy.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Flamel and Ford had been busy. The day the city had moved, they'd called upon a cavalry of their own. The group of people commonly known just as "Flamel's Group" had gathered to fight the Wizard.

It was indeed a rather large group. Flamel and Ford led the group, with Taz and Kid Caesar following, and Dolphi III and Hammy in the back. At Dolphi's request, Flamel had traveled separate from Edd's group (whom he had known would come the moment the city moved). Dolphi didn't doubt that Double D still remembered his and Hammy's involvement in his transfiguration and near death at the hands of Nida once before.

Flamel knew not what awaited them at the city, but as far as Flamel was concerned, the movement of the city meant one thing: the Wizard was moving. And Flamel would defend the mortality of the the humans of this world 'til the end of time.

[gantzgun74]

Traveling along with Edd and friends, Gantz and co were right behind them. Gantz had more then come prepared, as many summon charms were now on his person, and he was stocked to the brim with Elixers. Along with him was (Much to his chagrin) Rosaline, whom absolutely refused to be left behind. She had been training long and hard for this, and even practiced some magic to help up her ante. The boy was against it at first, knowing the forces they were up against, but Rosaline would not be convinced otherwise.

Now here they were, along with Otto, Wally, Kosumu, Misty, Tarosuke, and Talim. Metal Sonic had opted to stay behind and look after Gene and Lilia, since neither of them had the power to take on the Wizard. Kosumu shivered but gulped down his fears, he was a Star Child, and it was time he lived up to his name. "R-ready."

"I should hope you are, Kosumu." Gantz responded, already pulling out a summon charm. "I'm not sure if I'm reading these energy sig res correctly. But I think we have company."

Otto grinned, as his hands morphed into claws, absorbing the shadows and darkness around him till he took the form of his Zin Berserk Oversoul form. He'd have more of a chance in this form. "Really? Well at least the Wizard seems to want to greet us."

Wally pulled out a broadsword, and was absorbing energy from any light source he could find. "That's what I'm afraid of mate. This scene is too creepy though..."

A roll of her eyes came, before Misty patted Wally on the back. "Hey don't worry about it, Wally. We're all here together."

Tarosuke said nothing, merely taking in his time with his rei-gun finger pointed out, looking around for any movement that may cross his eye. Finally magic flashed in Gantz's fingers, and the summon charm was ready.

"Okay, Mr. Wizard. You wanna take over my home turf? Pff..."

Almost immediately a blob of pure lightning energy in the shape of a bird appeared out of nowhere; the summon spirit Quetzalcoatl, which squawked ever so lightly.

"Well, we'll just see about that."

[42zombies]

Shapeless heard them long before they actually arrived. He could recognize Eddy's voice from far off, anyway. The Wizard's army would take a few minutes to arrive; given how difficult they would be to control, they would most-likely go on a rampage and attack the intruders.

Tossing his clothes aside, Shapeless decided that it would be best to delay Edd's Army until the Wizard's Army arrived. Shapeless was now at his best-- he was an invisible force, unstoppable and untouchable. Like a whirlwind he moved towards Edd's group, picking up debris along the way.

[Felix Falora]

"Light her up!" These words were met by what seemed like missiles fired at the debris, taking it out of comission and setting flames all over the more burnable material. It would only cause to create small debris, easily more shielded by Felix, who seemed ample to want to fight, but was willing to defend while Masahiro tried to put some sort of plan into action. What was he going for though? What was his objective? The idea was to bring down the Wizard, so why did he seem uncertain? Meanwhile King stood there. The launcher he used to destroy the debris turned back into a sphere. He said he managed to pocket this from a guy who looked like their author and that it could turn into any weapon or pair of weapons he desired. Felix had been tempted to call Deus Ex Machina when he and Masahiro heard of that, but both kept their mouth shut. They didn't want to shoot a gift horse in the mouth, after all, and that was basically what a Deus Ex Machina was.

"Finally I get to see some action!" Trevor was, of course, hyped. Having been next to useless considering the angels, feeling like one of the characters in a certain anime, and he felt this way because he did watch Dragonball Z in his world quite a bit, he was glad to finally be out on the battlefield. Running in, the debris just couldn't seem to hit him. He dodged, swerved, flipped, evaded. Despite not being very powerful, his reflexes saved him from death again and again as he searched for Shapeless. "Now come on out! I haven't played in a good long while!"

"Try not to exhaust yourself before the Army gets here Trevor," Masahiro said with a sigh. "We need as much help as we can get."

[42zombies]

Despite not having a physical form, Shapeless was vulnerable to the heat from the flames. The Wizard's lietuenant dropped the burning debris to the ground and hissed in pain. Thinking quickly, he moved on to a new strategy; blades of air, spinning like buzzsaws, flew towards the Wizard's oppresors.

Without definite form, Shapeless was able to watch the cave and his opponents simeltaneously. It didn't look like the army was any closer to arriving. If he could have, Shapeless would have grimaced. He had no idea how much longer he'd have to hold these runts off.

He'd have to call for help.

[nintendonut1]

"HA!" Eddy was hardly impressed by the first attempt at an onslaught. "Thanks for the warm welco-OOF!"

His oh-so-witty retort was inturrupted by the random little creature falling atop his head, digging his face into the ground. Double D quickly air-braked, staring at the spectacle incredulously.

"Eddy! Really, now, of all times!?" He swooped back behind the group and snatched the two of them up, trying to catch up to them. "ED!"

"Righto!" The air blades sure didn't scare him! Nothing a little ZPE zap couldn't take care of, negating the wind flow and eliminating the threat practically completely.

[ryocker]

(um, Edd snatched up Tina too, right?)

Little Tina rubbed her head from the fall, before noticing her mint leaves were being ubstructed by something beind her. Looking up, she blushed, seeing a human, a HUMAN holding her in one of his arms.

About the time Double D told Ed to take care of the problem, she got a little itchy for a fight, too. Twitching to get her leaves out, she took in a deep breath, and spat out a gust of icy wind at what was left of the wind blades.

[42zombies]

Shapeless felt the chill of the cold. Extreme temperatures were about the only things he could feel. Plus, Ed's Zero-Point Energy had Shapeless stuck in a vice. As much as he tried to wiggle free, Shapeless found that a small part of him was anchored to that point in space.

But the rest of him was flowing in the air-- extending and changing like some sort of... extending... changing... air. Invisible to the naked eye-- and the clothed eye, too. He was... um... invisible... spreading... air... thing.

Shapeless shot an invisible tendril towards a nearby rock, grabbing it and flinging it towards his enemies. It sped towards them with the speed of the bullet.

The rock hadn't been there a moment before. Still, what's one extra rock in a huge valley?

[Felix Falora]

"Trevor, incoming rock," Masahiro said.

"Got it!" The swordsman immediately jumped. A flurry of strikes later, his swords seemed to cut the rock into small pierces. Masahiro walked in front and pulled what looked like an umbrella from inside the back of his shirt. When he opened it, however, it turned out to be something made from energy that deflected the rocks.

"I've had too much time to myself. With this kind of gear, everything is going according to plan," Masahiro said with a smirk. "To think... learning how to read all those years ago opened up so much knowledge I had been skimping on to focus on combat... this... is real power."

Ignoring Masahiro, Trevor noticed Tina. "Damnit Eddy! Even in battle you can get the women?! Am I one of those plucky side characters doomed to be single forever?!" He sounded rather dramatic. He was rewarded by a slap in the back of the head from Felix.

"We'll worry about that later. For now... they're talking of an army coming, the Wizard's Army," Felix said.

"Oh that's right... sounds fun."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Kid dropped down from the air in front of Flamel. "Hey! That Edd kid's group's under attack!"

"Shouldn't we help them?" Hammy asked.

"Why should we? We're here to fight the Wizard. Besides, they can handle themselves," Taz said cockily. Dolphi III glared at the peacock.

"Taz is right. Besides, there's an army coming," Ford stated. Dolphi sighed and the group continued walking.

Upon reaching the cave area, Taz took up the lead. "Hello! We're here to kick your asses!"

[42zombies]

There was no sound. Whoever was beyond that portal was either incapable of an emotional response or hadn't heard them. Or both.

"How does everyone know about the army?!" Shapeless screamed, finally losing his patience. "Did the Wizard tell you?! How come he never tells me when he tells people things?!"

"Jeez, Shapeless, calm down..."

The voice came out of nowhere. Seemingly. In reality, it came out of the chunks of rock that Trevor had sliced to bits. The pebbles melted into a grey goop and blended together, forming a puddle. A figure emerged from the puddle-- a tall, demonic creature wielding a single sword.

"Shifter?" Shapeless recognized, impressed. "So E-- the Wizard brought you back, eh?"

"I was dead?" Shifter asked, his voice sounding suspiciously like Tim Curry's. "Meh. We'll sort it out after the army gets here."

Raising his sword above his ridiculously large horns, a bolt of lightning struck the blade, setting it ablaze. Shifter charged towards the Wizard's enemies, screeching like a madman.

thhp

Shifter stopped in his tracks, mildly surprised by the blade that had suddenly appeared in his stomach. When he looked down, he saw it was a katana connected to a hand connected to an arm connected to a half-Japanese assassin with a fairly stupid name.

"'Sup." 4 nodded at Shifter pleasantly. "I just stabbed your bitch." He waved his free hand at Edd and his friends casually.

"Hey, hat-kid. Hey, other guys."

[nintendonut1]

(Tim Curry=win =D)

"..oh! 4!!" Well, they hadn't seen this fellow in a while! Once Eddy had leaped out of his arms to angrily bash at remaining rocks, Edd landed with a small stumble, forgetting to slow down a bit. He forgot that he was still holding little Tina; it was natural for his arms to be occupied nowadays.

"It's good to see you. Are you here to confront the Wizard's Army as well?"